What we've been up to...

Jason was in Chicago last week for a training class and Drake couldn't go to the sitter's on Monday so we decided to drive up on Sunday. We spent the afternoon at IKEA and Woodfield Mall and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I've been looking for a table or something for our entryway as well as a new table and chairs for our kitchen. No purchases, here, but we did see a few things we liked. Our waitress at the restaurant was wonderful. After all this media about restaurants and airlines wanting to ban children, it's nice to know that there are still places that are accommodating. We're at the stage with Drake where I almost hate to order him a kid's meal because most of it gets wasted, but I don't always want to get something I'm sure he'll eat. Our waitress ended up bringing us some cut up banana, their homemade applesauce and some cooked carrots a little softer than they normally do. And, these were her suggestions! We will definitely go back there.

On Monday, Drake and I visited my friend from college, her sister, and her sister's new daughter, Demi. I got to snuggle her for a bit and feed her a bottle...such a cutie and a what a reminder of how quickly time passes. It seems like I was just holding Drake like that. We had lunch and headed home.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal and then I was able to stay home with Drake on Thursday and Friday because our sitter's son had a fever. We went to the splash park and had a picnic lunch with my friend, Melissa, and her girls on Thursday morning and Friday we went grocery shopping. It was SO nice spending that extra time with Drake. Jason got home Friday afternoon and Drake was so excited to see him.

We left early on Saturday morning for Drake's first camping experience! My brother and his family have a camper and go regularly with some other family and their friends so we were excited to meet up with them for one night. Drake slept about an hour of the trip there and skipped his afternoon nap (I know...bad mommy!), but he did great! It was rainy when we got there but then it got hot and sunny. We swam in the pool and played in the afternoon until bedtime. We managed to get him to bed at a fairly normal time since my aunt's camper had a rocking chair (Thanks, Kelly!). He usually goes to bed on his own in his crib, but this was a different location, and we were attempting to just put him down on my brother's bed. He did wake up once but I think it was a night terror or something because he ended up going back to sleep without a problem...thankfully no one else was sleeping yet so he didn't wake anyone up. (sorry about the rotated pictures...I dropped my camera a while back and I think that's the problem...oops!)

 Enjoying a drink during a break from swimming!

Dancing poolside!

 Swimming with Aunt Kelly!

 Me and my sister-in-law Kelly

 me and Jason (goofy!)

 me with my niece, Nicole

Eating breakfast before we headed home. 

I can see many more trips like this in our future. We all had a great time!